Short stories from the Voxians including Nytshade, Raidar & Shadow’s stories

Brand New and exciting short stories book including Voxians you have not heard of yet.
Book 1 – Raidar – His journey to Hell to find his long lost wife after discovering in book 3 that she is held captive and not dead.
Book 2 – Shadow
Five fabulous shorts (well maybe not that short)
AVAILABLE SUMMER 2015!

Dracula is a classic novel which was written under the Gothic genre in the late 1800’s.

I first met Count Dracula as a young teen sneaking a look at those terrible Hammer versions staring Christopher Lee (He however is not bad, even now in his 90’s)

I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula many years later as a college student in the 1990’s 15 years later as part of my A ‘level English Literature course. The book was read in class, so it took a few months to get through it, I loved the imagery in it, and as the original story goes even today it could still send a shiver down the spine of most young readers.

Holding a conversation with my husband I asked who was his favourite character – “Dracula, well he is the main character!” So perhaps I should just continue myself!
My favourite character has always been Lucy, the brassy redhead who had many suitors all from different walks of life, not making anyone wander why she was one of Dracula’s main victims whilst our Vampire Lord was chasing Mina, it’s only fare that Mina’s bit f a tarty friend gets pulled into the story as lunch for a vampire.

Bram Stoker based his character Dracula (Son of the Devil or Son of the dragon)) on a historical figure called Vlad the Impaler, him and whilst working as a backstage manager for his bullying boss Sir Henry Irvine made Dracula’s character based on Sir Henry’s character in the play ‘The Devil’s Manager.’

Dracula contains some mild horror by todays standards. A fantastical ‘Lord of the Manor turns blood sucking murderer’ Count Dracula is an undead creature disguised as human that lives from human blood. Villages fear him, woman allured by him always end up his victim, that is except Mina, who is the doppelganger of Dracula’s dead wife.

Gary Oldman as the young Dracula

Now to look at the closest film.
Dracula by Francis Ford Copolla

In all it’s brilliance, apart from a BBC adaption this film is probably the closest I have actually seen to the book.

Favourite quote:
Dracula – “Listen to them – the children of the night, what sweet music they make.” I loved the way Copolla made his shadow move on the castle wall, it was very haunting and has horror goes did send a chill down my spine.

The sexuality seemed a little exaggerated in the film, not that it doesn’t exist in the book itself “All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips.” But as far as I can remember it doesn’t get much more sexual than that, let’s face it the three Vampire women in bed with Harper would not have been allowed reading in 1800’s it would have been banned surely!

Gary Oldman – Old Dracula

What else can be said?
As classic novels go, it isn’t that erotic, but it has it’s moments, Stoker as a writer intrigues and pulls you in with fascinating characters in a strange place.
Should you read it? Well if you are into Vampires this is King Vampire and as far as I am concerned rewriting the vampire kind will always entail you going back to it’s original roots, this being one of the first, would I read it again? With time on my hands yes.

Beginners guide – to setting up your writing career (was, ‘How to be a writer, or not!’)
Written by
Ruth Watson-Morris
ISBN-13: 978-1503013438

Welcome to…

Guide to self-publishing, formatting and character building.

After reading half a pound of these books you sort of start to pick up some of what or why these people give you their great advice.

Looking into statistics it would seem that over 82% of the world’s population say that they ‘wish to write a book,’ so, here is my input; I truly hope this is of some help.

We all have different experiences with writing, I am a fantasy fiction writer, and so instead of looking at selling books from a business point of view, I can see it through the eyes of those wishing to become the next JK or George R R Martin.

Please note – this is not a ‘give up now booklet,’ this is a ‘be patient and don’t give up your day job for a while yet, sort of booklet!’

While writing my blog I sent out a questionnaire that was originally for a post about marketing and if it is worth its money, but the information found through my research, I thought would be more useful for everyone who wants to be a budding author, so I have brought together what these authors have said instead placing it here.

I can tell you that this is for the absolute beginners in this industry, if you have got up one morning having your very first ‘eureka moment!!!’

Sounding a bit like – “I know, I’ll write a book!”

Then this, my friends is for you.

Where to start?

So, you’ve got an idea?

Unlike most self-help books, I am not going to say ‘be original’ tell that to Stephanie Meyer who wrote a book about Vampires, so has Bram Stoker, Linda Smith and to be fair quite a few others.

People like what they like, if you have an original idea that’s fantastic but if you think writing another Vampire story won’t sell, I can tell you that if the quality is good enough, then like all books, it will.
Even if it does take some time.

Connect with people through social networks such as Facebook’s UP Authors group; join a marketing group, try to make sure it is one that will help you and give good advice as well, they are out there. Here you will meet and get a lot of advice from authors that have been in the trade for a while longer than you have.

I personally stumbled into self- publishing by accident; I came across a website called Lulu.com.

After nearly 2 years of frustrating replies from publishing houses who didn’t have time to even look at my MMS, this company didn’t mind what I published to a certain extent, so long as I followed their guide lines. Fabulous!

Okay, tangent over (If my English teacher ever saw this, I am sure he would smile right now).
Taking the idea you have, and making it into your story.

Write a plan of where you want the story to go, once you have what you’re writing in mind, as other authors will tell you, it’s good to make a list of where this story will go. Note your genre, is it Sci-Fi or Fantasy or Romance or in today’s popular sellable writing, Erotica?

Whatever it is, when it’s finished, you seriously need to be sure you aim the story at the right audience.
But that’s later, after all you need to get the story written first don’t you?

Making it good quality, there are so many authors out there now, why would they want to buy your book?
Spell checking is a must, UK English is different to USA English, decide which spelling you are going to use, remembering that whatever it is, the people who read it from the other country will say you have misspelled things. It doesn’t matter which you chose, they will definitely enjoy having a moan about it.

I spent a long time studying in full time education up until I graduated with my Psychology degree, and I can make many mistakes in my writing. I am lucky enough to have a fabulous editor, this is so important, having someone who can spot your mistakes for you and give you advice on what should be put in your book and where is paramount to your success, there are more people out there who are critics than you would really care to know about, so try not to give them the excuse to pick on your work, not that some won’t anyway.

Critism are something else you have to get yourself prepared to see and hear a lot of.
Why?

Well unfortunately not everyone is going to love your story, no matter how fabulous it is, but don’t let that put you off, there are a lot of people out there that will.

With all this in mind, now take that idea, have you got it? Yes! That’s fabulous! So come on, get writing!
Remember to research information that you are putting into your story from the real world, the last thing you want is someone telling you that your “Science is unbelievable!” After all if you have done your research correctly, you can smile politely, knowing that actually it is real science.

Next chapter is editing, which I will make available before Christmas.